Fightin'

*cat · Post by *cat » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:45 pm

Deep down, i know it's just a game, and when I'm fightin' pirates, it's just a buncha numbers whirring around in the CPU... So when they let loose with their lasers, does it make any difference if I duck and dive with my ship, or will they hit me a certain percentage of the time anyway?

Post by **Disembodied** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:54 pm

Try flying in a straight line in combat and see what happens...

I don't know the mechanics, but I get hit a whole bunch more often when I fly straight and level... it drops right back down again when I shunt the throttle up and down, spinning and spiralling.

Cmdr. Maegil · Post by **Cmdr. Maegil** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:42 pm

At least until the introduction of yaw thrusters, the NPCs tried to keep the same 'horizontal' plane as the player, reacting simulatneously.

I had suggested at the time introducing a delay and even mistakes on the AIs to simulate several grades of pilots, but it was said that the player already has too many advantages, namely shields...

Commander Mysenses · Post by **Commander Mysenses** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:31 pm

What I have issues with is the flee behavoir.

From the pirateAI.plist
ATTACKED = (setTargetToPrimaryAggressor, "setStateTo: ATTACK_SHIP");
"ENERGY_LOW" = ("setStateTo: FLEE");

Which I assume means that they attack until their energy is low, then they flee. All well and good so far, but the flee behavior is a bit daft. They use evasive manoeuvring until they get to a certain range from the aggressor (seems to be 1km) then they settle to a max speed straight line flee... even when you are piling photons into their arse. that doesn't make sense to me (but I guess it makes my life easier!). I would have thought it would make more sense to continue evasive manoeuvring out to at least 5km range (or more for a large target)... or better yet, stay evasive until they stop receiving hits.

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:59 pm

I think the NPC's are pussies compared to Elite (apart from behemoths and the like), probably because I'm blinged up with shields and a naval energy unit. What does seem different is the behaviour in which they come at you, there seems to be less of them and they tend to come at you in groups rather than one after the other. Single ships are easy to deal with and groups can be outwitted tactically with injectors or cloaking.